Xenophobic social media account that directs traffic to gambling platform raises questions about advertising

By Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change

23 Oct 2024

By monitoring social media amid the proliferation of betting products in South Africa, some red flags are being raised in how traffic is directed to these gambling sites.

The gambling industry in South Africa has been through significant changes in recent years. Online slot games that were once banned are now easily available through most sports betting platforms as the industry pivoted away from relying on sports games to ensure their sustainability. This was a result of the lockdown that abruptly halted the sporting calendar in 2020.

What followed was a considerable uptick in the advertising of betting products and promotional content. It is virtually impossible to watch any major sporting event on television without encountering at least one advertisement from LottoStar, Betway or Hollywoodbets, the companies that hold the largest market share in the industry. Television advertising presents significant costs to smaller market entrants, and these companies have now turned to more creative and lower-cost customer acquisition methods such as social media influencers.

Easybet, which was registered in 2022 and is licensed by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board (the Board), appears to have enlisted the assistance of social media influencers to act as affiliate marketers who direct traffic to the Easybet website. In total on X.com, 51 profiles were found to contain the word “Easybet”. Some of these were for foreign sites of the same name while at least 14 of these profiles contained imagery and promotions specific to Easybet South Africa.

This style of advertising raises concerns for two reasons.

Firstly, according to the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Act of 1996, “No person shall cause or permit any advertisement relating to any gambling activity to be published in this Province, unless a licence in respect of such activity has been issued.” This has long been a thorn in the side of more established and discerning betting platform owners who work strictly within the law under the licence they hold.

Secondly, while some social media influencers may have gained prominence and relevance within the South African online discourse through the promotion of useful and meaningful content, others unfortunately have used hateful and divisive rhetoric to establish a user base. For the latter, the traffic generated through the use of this content has now reached such a large scale that they can reap financial benefits from the anger they sow.

Returning to the Easybet example, researchers at the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change who have been tracking and reporting on some of these accounts, noticed a notorious X (formerly Twitter) handle, @ChrisExcel102, advertising an Easybet sign-up bonus in the bio of their profile that directs traffic to the Easybet website.

As you can see from the image, the bonus is advertised with no terms, conditions or age limits, simply a link to the site that anyone can access. According to the 2024 South African Social Media Landscape Report, the highest proportion of X users (i.e. those who accessed Twitter today, yesterday, in the past 7 or 14 days) are between the ages of 15 and 24. This implies that the opportunity for minors to see this content is high.

When asked for comment on how minors were protected through social media advertising, the Board said: “While the Board does restrict gambling-related advertising to audiences who are over the age of 18 years old, by granting approval to be displayed on platforms which generally have an adult audience, the explosion of social media does prevent (sic) challenges as minors do have access to this either through lack of parental control or through their own efforts.”

With regards to the requirements for advertising with social media influencers, the board said social media influencers were approved as affiliates of licence holders, and the Board approved the affiliate agreement between the parties. Any transgression by the affiliate in terms of what is advertised, would be a transgression by the licencee. The Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change asked the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board to confirm if the X handle @ChrisExcel102 was approved by the Board for advertising products of licence holders, and if the account has an affiliate agreement in place with the Board. The centre has not yet received their response.

The @ChrisExcel102 account is known for posting xenophobic content (at last count, the account had more than 2.9 million followers). In the examples below, the account owners refer to Nigerians as “dogs”, criminals, and condones racism.

Between 1994 and 2024 xenophobic attacks in South Africa led to 669 deaths, the looting of 5,310 shops and 127,572 people being displaced, according to the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs.

The account also posts content that perpetuates stereotypes of toxic masculinity, which runs counter to South Africa’s National plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide.

It is unclear if the Board has approved the promotional content for Easybet that was used in the bio of @ChrisExcel102. The gambling board confirmed that before any advert is placed either by a licensee or a third party advertiser, “the activity advertised, as well as the licence holder who is being promoted in the advertisement, is required to be licensed by the Board. Advertisements must be approved by the Board, and approval is granted upon request by the licence holder, subject to the advertisement complying with the applicable gambling legislation.”

The Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change reached out to Easybet for comment, but has not received any response. The sign-up bonus is still advertised on the X profile.

The following questions were posed to the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board

In terms of the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Act of 1996, it appears that anyone who advertises products of a Western Cape Licensee also needs a licence to run such advertising. Does this rule apply to social media influencers?

What measures are in place to safeguard against minors viewing and using the betting promotions that are advertised through an open profile on social media?

If social media influencers are allowed to advertise on behalf of a betting company, is their profile vetted in any way to ensure that the people behind the account are known and that the content that they post is in line with the spirit and ambit of South African laws and the Constitution?

A follow up question was submitted:

4. Before publishing, we wanted to confirm - was the Twitter/X handle @ChrisExcel102 approved by the Board for advertising products of license holders and do they have an affiliate agreement in place with the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board?

Their response: "We will only be able to confirm this information if we know who the licence holder is, and with the consent of the licence holder."

We then sent a screenshot of the Chris Excel account bio showing the Easybet promo. No response has been forthcoming to date.

The following questions were sent to Easybet

Did you or any 3rd party social media accounts you work with apply to the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board to publish adverts?

Do you vet the content of the third party social media accounts that you advertise with to ensure that the people behind the account are known, and that the content that they post is in line with the spirit and ambit of South African laws and the Constitution?

How do you ensure that the gambling board’s rules and regulations are being adhered to, specifically in relation to minors before and during publication of third party social media advertising?

CABC had not received a response from Easybet by the time of publication. DM

The Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC) is a non-profit organisation established to track and counter misinformation, disinformation, fake news, and divisive and polarising rhetoric promulgated online to undermine social cohesion, democratic integrity, and the stability of nation-states.

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